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Bill Litchman taught this dance as part of his session (November 19, 2011) on Traditional Western Squares at the Dare To Be Square Weekend, John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Co-sponsored by the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS), the event brought together six experienced callers representing different styles of traditional and modern square dance with about 70 square dance enthusiasts.

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(To open the PDF document, click on the underlined link to the right.)

This overview of square dance history focuses on two major groups of square dance. One group (northern, Eastern, Maritime, etc.) relies on quadrille-style figures, with couples interacting across the set; this style is prompted like a contra. The second form is found in the southern Appalachia mountains, the southwest, and the Rocky Mountain region, with the caller chanting patter throughout the dance.

Litchman argues that there are different sources for these two distinct styles, and he looks at the migration patterns of early settlers to explain why different dance styles ended up where they are.

For more on Rocky Mountain dancing, see Litchman's videotaped interview. Readers interested in the controversy and eventual agreement between Eastern and Western callers that settled the confusion between docey-doe and do-si-do can learn more here.

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This silent movie shows children dancing at the second annual Square Dance Festival held in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The film was taken by Leonard Fisher, whose daughter was one of the dancers; the original footage comes from the collection of the Tread of Pioneers Museum in Steamboat Springs, and is used by permission of the museum and the film's donor. The Square Dance History Project has additional information about this event, which garnered national attention. At the first festival, in 1950, about 100 persons were expected but 3,000 turned out, an indicator of the wide popularity that square dance was developing at this time.

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Herb Egender was a member of Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw's legendary square dance demonstration team, the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers. This footage of his recollections of that experience was recorded by Cal Campbell at the 2004 CALLERLAB convention in Reno, Nevada. Other speakers on the History Panel were Jim Mayo and Jon Jones.

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Bill Litchman continues his discussion about educator Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw and the important role he played in square dance. Here, he focuses on the impact that Shaw's Cheyenne Mountain Dancers had in creating interest in squares, how Shaw's summer classes started, and a description of Shaw's philosophy of dance.

Interview conducted 18 November 2011 by David Millstone, videotaped by John-Michael Seng-Wheeler, John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, North Carolina, as part of the Square Dance History Project: http://SquareDanceHistory.org

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An interview with caller Bill Litchman about educator Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw and the important role he played in square dance. Many see Shaw as a defining figure in the transition from traditional to modern squares. Certainly his demonstration team of high school students, the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, attracted great attention and got viewers excited by square dancing.

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Lloyd Shaw is the name that is widely recognized as an important figure in square dance history; here, caller Bill Litchman describes the crucial role played by Dorothy Shaw, his wife, and says that she had the greatest influence on him of anyone in his development as a caller and dancer.